Speaking after today’s win, Wenger, whose attempts to sign Schalke midfielder Julian Draxler were thwarted before deadline, said: ‘We have to establish the real truth about this story. He [Kallstrom] arrived here and fell on his back two days before.

‘First of all, it’s very difficult to identify a player, who can come in, of that stature and then we made a medical [check] of his back and we found out he had a little micro-fracture.

‘We have all played with micro-fractures.

‘Then Spartak Moscow accepted to share the costs – as long as he’s injured they will pay – and we had a decision to make. We could take nobody or Kallstrom and it went through on Friday at five o’clock.’